Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Third XMRV Study

I'm a little late on this - I was waiting for all the analyses to come out. Last week, another UK study on XMRV and ME/CFS was published. In contrast to the first one from the UK that was conducted by Wessley and his gang of non-believers, this study was conducted by some top UK CFS/ME researchers, including Dr. Kerr and Dr. Gow who both helped to identify the genes involved in CFS a few years ago (I participated in Dr. Kerr's genetic study). That's the good news.

The bad news is that this study failed to find evidence of XMRV in the CFS patients tested. So, the original US study conducted by the Whittemore Peterson Institute has still not been verified. This analysis article from Suzanne Vernon, Scientific Director of the CFIDS Association, does a good job of explaining exactly how this third study was conducted and why it may have failed to replicate the results of the original study. Bottom line is that we still don't know for sure whether XMRV is a part of CFS, that XMRV is very difficult to detect and can "hide", and that additional replication studies are needed.

On the plus side, if XMRV is proven to be implicated in CFS, there is a lot of work going on now to study retro-viruses like XMRV, as explained in this recent article in Science Daily that says a vaccination for XMRV may be easier to develop than for HIV.

On the home front, Jamie said he felt "good" this morning which was cause for celebration! I'm not feeling so good now, but at least I'm home alone in a quiet house - trying to rest. Yet another snowstorm is forecast for tomorrow, with estimates ranging from 4 - 18 inches! Wish me luck!

I read that another storm was coming your way, Sue. I couldn't believe it! I'm so glad that Jamie was well enough to go to school today. Now that you're alone in the house, I hope you can get the rest you've been needing.

Thank you for your view on this. I find it so emotive I can't think straight about it. Therefore I can't trust my own point of view. I agree it's great that the scientific community is now aware of XMRV and developing medication. It can only increase our understanding and benefit the community as a whole.

This Winter is dragging on isn't it? We have snow forecast too and it's nearly March! Take care.

The second UK study has been pretty well shown to have not been a replication study and did not do what it should have done to find XMRV. WPI has now started testing using 'serology' where they test the ability of the sample to infect uninfected cells. Not to worry, more news will be out soon, rumored to be confirming XMRV in CFS.

I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS or CFIDS) since March 2002. My 19-year old and 16-year old sons also have CFS, and my older son also has Lyme disease plus two other tick infections. This blog is about how our family is learning to live with chronic illness, with a focus on living and enjoying our lives in spite of these challenges.